Ramapo Judge Alan Simon bounced from bench

“A state watchdog panel has removed Alan Simon as a judge in Ramapo, Spring Valley and Hillburn for violations of judicial ethics, officials said Tuesday.

Simon’s conduct as a judge had been under review by the state Commission on Judicial Conduct based on accusations filed against him in 2012, when he was accused of grabbing the arm of an intern for the Spring Valley Justice Court.”

“Simon has been a prosecutor, public defender, and served as Ramapo’s town attorney in the 1990s into early 2000. He returned to Ramapo as planning and zoning director in 2006 but left several years later.

In that post, he alienated engineers, support staff and town attorneys with his brashness and sometimes snarky memos. Many town employees found him to be disrespectful and, at times, arrogant. He falsely accused one staff member publicly of leaking documents to the newspaper.

Simon signed documents approving developments, and changed some rules policies, including letting private engineers self-certify their own work. Many of the new developments were in the Monsey area.

At one point, Simon declared the town attorney’s office no longer represented his department and asked for new counsel. St. Lawrence rejected that request.”